Peta Wilson was born on November 11, 1971. She is the daughter of a retired warrant officer, Darcy Wilson, and a caterer, Karlene White. She also has a brother Rob, who is an Australian army truck driver. She was born in Sydney, but moved a dozen times before she was 13. She was raised in Papau, New Guinea.

As she moved around, sports were Wilson's calling card. In high school she became the youngest member and "best player" of the Australian national netball (similar to basketball) team, she says.

She became a model in Europe and later moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to concentrate on becoming an actress. There she met film director Damian Harris. They later on moved into a three-bedroom Hollywood Hills house. She took acting classes and got various small parts in movies and television shows.

She studied with coaches such as Arthur Mendoza from the Actors Circle Theater in Los Angeles and Tom Waits at TomCats repertory group. Her first role was for the Actors Circle Theater in Sam Shepherd's play, "Fool For Love".

She is now playing her first major television role, Nikita, on La Femme Nikita (Nikita in Canada). She now lives with her grandmother in a rented loft. Filming the show requires very stressful, 17-hour workdays.

Peta enjoys such things as scuba diving, horseback riding, swimming, cricket, painting, and gardening. Her real passion is for old cars. She owns a 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible, a '57 T-Bird and '38 Dodge.

Credit: petawilsonshrine.com